I was home at my parents place the night before I was leaving for the airport. they live in the kind of suburb that has lots of lawyers.

Turns out 2 couples are coming over for dinner, both with 50-something lawyer husbands. I go down to say hi. The conversation turns to all the layoffs and how the law students are dealing with it.

In the course of this conversation the two guys agree that their firms, which are about to put in deferral programs, are doing it as a prelude to rescinding offers.

Simply put, you defer (or are deferred mandatorily), you're out, unless the economy comes back. One said, and I quote verbatim, "You should tell your friends that if a firm defers them they should presume they need a new job."

This makes sense. But it's probably important to distinguish between the firms that set slightly later start dates (like October or November) for the entire class and those that offer a deferral for a year to only some of the incoming associates. If a firm delays its start date for everyone for a month or two, it doesn't necessarily follow that the entire class is out of work.